Accountants 'should be decision makers'

News Article - 06 September 2007
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Accountants need to be trusted to make company decisions on key challenges, an expert has said.

Speaking to Accountancy Age, David Brent, Forum for the Future principal sustainability adviser, argued that the profession is currently utilised by businesses for important decisions on the future.

Company decisions on issues such as climate change and global poverty would be more effective if help from the finance department was valued, he said.

In order to avoid a future where accountants are only trusted with reporting but not decisions, the profession needs to expand its "core expertise", he told the website.

Believing that accoutnants are well equipped to get involved in the decision-making process of businesses on issues like climate change, Mr Bent said: "Accountants can be trusted with the future of businesses, but we have to go out there and prove it."

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has recently invited study proposals on the involvement of accountants in the organisational decision-making process.

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